Why Chia Seed?? They are high in Omega 3 and Omega 6, calcium and protein! They are also super hydrating which is perfect for a hot summer day. You buy the chia seeds and then make the gel because chia seeds alone absorb water. If eaten alone they can absorb water from your intestinal tract which can cause dehydration (defeating the purpose of this hydrating drink!)

How to make Chia Seed Gel
I learned this from my friend, Rene Oswald. She has a great book called “Transitioning to Living Cuisine” which gives you the instructions on making this ‘oh so healthy’ concoction!
1/4 cup chia seed
2 cups water
Put 2 cups water in container. SLOWLY pour Chia Seed into water while whisking. Let sit for 4 min and whisk again. Let sit for 10 minutes and then refrigerate!

If you want to cut to the chase and get the 5 tips, scroll down : ) But here is our story:

Neil, Roku and I have been on 2 trips since eating 100% raw. One trip was on the road for a weekend in Sarasota. The other was flying to NY for a week long trip to the Jersey Shore. We tried to be as prepared as possible with a plan and plenty of raw food snacks so that we could stick with our nutritional goals. The road trip was pretty easy. We were staying at our family beach house, so I knew we would have a refrigerator. We also easily packed the vitamix since we were traveling in the car. I made a big batch of granola, some raw burgers, flax wraps and 2 huge chopped salads. I put the salads in large baggies for easy travel. I did one beet salad and a ‘rainbow’ salad from Rene Oswald’s “Transitioning to Living Cuisine” Recipe Book. I just packed the dressings separately so that the salad did not get soggy. Sarasota was also an easy trip for us to stick with our 100% raw plan because they had both a Whole Foods AND a Raw Food Restaurant. We bought plenty of organic fruits and veggies to snack on at Whole Foods. At Ione’s (the Raw Food Restaurant), we picked up a Raw Pizza, Raw Burger, Raw Snack Crackers, and an amazing chocolate mousse pie. Between all of these treats and the items that we brought with us, we had such great variety. My sister met us in Sarasota and she pretty much adhered to our same meal plan which made it easier (we shared our goodies with her of course!). She understands this lifestyle and has dabbled with raw foods herself so she was 100% supportive.

Now our trip to the Jersey Shore was much different. We would be traveling by plane, but that did not stop us from packing goodies and our vitamix! I just made sure to bring non-perishable items. I have attached a video below showing you how we packed these items. We brought a huge bag of granola, raw crackers, carob cookies, nori snacks, salad toppers, and some dehydrated raw snack bars. I also brought along a container of Himalayan Sea Salt, Stevia, and I put Raw Agave Nectar in a travel size shampoo bottle. When we got to the shore, we picked up some produce. Not a ton of organic stuff though so we looked up the closest Whole Foods. It was about a 30 minute drive, so we made a road trip up there with Roku (he loves Whole Foods! must be all of the colors). But even with all of the preparation and variety of snacks, it was still difficult to be 100% raw. Particularly for Neil….we were with his family (there were about 8 of us in a cute little house on the beach) and there are a lot of nostalgia in eating cooked food with them. He chose to have a few cooked items with them at dinner and felt really good about it. I ended up cooking some Kasha (roasted buckwheat) for dinner to share with everyone. The cooked grains tasted really good to me. This was the only cooked item that I had, and I decided that I would continue to incorporate some cooked grains into my diet for now. So, from our experiences, here my top 5 tips for eating raw while on the road:5 Tips For Success!
1) Prepare snacks for your travel days. Small baggies of nuts, fruit, raw dehydrated bars, carrot sticks, are all good choices to stash in your carry on and/or glove compartment.
2) Bring your vitamix! I know it is a pain; we actually paid to bring the extra bag on the plane, but so worth it. We had at least 2 green smoothies per day
3) Bring condiments if you use them: Himalayan Sea Salt, Stevia, and make a salad topper (nutritional yeast, buckwheat groats, nori granules) so that if you have a salad on the road you can sprinkle this on top with a squeeze of lemon and olive oil
4) Check online for raw food restaurants and places to buy organic produce BEFORE your trip. Right down the address and phone number.
5) If you like granola, bring as a big a bag of it as you can manage. This might just be a ‘personal thing’ but I found that being on vacation I wanted to munch more. I bulked up my granola up with dehydrated buckwheat groats so it would not have such a high fat content.

HAPPY TRAVELS!!!

The food we packed for the plane. Neil does not show the vitamix, but it is in the bag too!!

Food that we got at the Raw Food Restaurant called Ione in Sarasota. You HAVE to see this beautiful food!!

Today I had an odd craving for milk. I have only made raw nut milk a couple of times to pour over my granola, but this time I wanted something a little different…Chocolate milk! I did not have all of the ingredients, so I just kind of made this up. It turned out so delectable and sweet! since I was just using what I had in the pantry, it ended up being an almond and cashew milk combo. I usually use about 3 dates, but I only had one. So I used some raw agave nectar to sweeten it up a bit. Definitely a special weekend treat (in addition to our special chai smoothie which I will share with you later). And Neil and I deserved it after the ‘scare’ we had with Dylan this morning. We went to a new church and put Roku in their daycare. We knew he would not last the whole service and, sure enough, in an hour we were called back to the nursery (via a number that flashes on a screen in front of the church). We thought it was the typical ‘I’m ready to sleep’ cry, but he had actually had an accident! He was sitting up (which he is not very good at yet) and fell over onto a leggo! Poor baby has a big bump on his head. He doesn’t seem to notice it though. I just iced it a bit and it seems to be going down. This is his first bump and I am sure there will be MANY MANY more. I had to take a photo to document this first (below). Anyway, you have GOT to try this recipe! Here it is:

Raw ‘Chocolate Milk’
1 cup almonds (soaked and dehydrated)
1/4 cup cashews
1 Date
2 tablespoons raw carob powder
1 tablespoon agave nectar
3 cups water
5 ice cubes (I like it COLD)
Blend in vitamix just as you would a smoothie!
You can strain the milk in a nut bag or sieve, however I just drank it ‘as is’.

Dylan and I had a wonderful day yesterday. We went to baby yoga at Amazing Births in Boca Raton. My friend Debra invited us to go with her son Thaddeus who is the same age as Dylan. We met up with her friend Andrea with her daughter Noa. After yoga, we had a raw food picnic in Sugar Sand Park. I will share more about our day in an upcoming post. On to the Cantaloupe Chiller….

It was a hot day at the park, so when I got home I needed something to help me cool off. I opened the fridge to see a half eaten cantaloupe on the shelf so I decided to try putting it in the vitamix with some ice cubes. YUMMY!! It blended in to the most fantastic, creamy fruity drink! What a great way to cool down after a beautiful day with friends.

One of my favorite weekend treats before going raw was Ben and Jerry’s Halfbaked Fro Yo. For those of you who have not had it, it is half chocolate chip cookie dough and half brownie chunk frozen yogurt. My husband and I would split a container at least once a month. Believe it or not, I have found a raw replacement that I love just as much if not better!

All you do is blend 3 frozen bananas with about2 Tablespoons raw carob powder and2 ‘scoops’ stevia (I use the scoop in the container).
I blend in the Vitamix until everything is mixed and then dish out with a spatula into little parfait glasses. We sometimes add our homemade gRAWnola and even some raw agave nectar. HEAVENLY! and GUILTLESS!!